going fast! Say once more that you forgive me; it is like an opiate to my terror-stricken conscience; I know that it will be unavailing to save me from eternal condemnation, but 66 Maurice, I do forgive you," returned his lordship, as the tears stood trembling in his eyes; "I will think, if I can, of early years alone. But your time is speeding away. Do not then lose one moment in imploring Divine pardon. Pray-fervently pray!" "Pray!" shrieked the despairing man. "To whom must I pray? To HIM whom I have for years denied? Pray! to the BEING whom I made it my study to deride? Oh! no, no, Eustace. Have you forgotten the words I will mock at their calamity, and laugh when their fear cometh! The period has arrived; the scorner is rebuked in his affliction, not pitied; the scoffer is despised in his last moments, and never can be pardoned." "Do not thus throw your only hope away," said the surgeon, as he smoothed the pillow of the dying man, and gently elevated his head. "I tell you it is useless!" returned the prisoner, his breathing becoming every instant more and more irregular. "The future is even now opening before me; I see the bar before which I must shortly appear, and there stands the accusing angel ready to bear witness against me. Eustace! my mother! tell me-oh! my lord-tell me of my mother! for years have passed since I last heard of any of my family." "Your mother, Maurice," replied the kind-hearted nobleman, deeply affected, " is now amongst the spirits of the blessed." "We shall never meet again!" groaned Delaney, as he sobbed convulsively. "Yet, Eustace dear Eustace, may she not plead for me-me her unhappy, guilty son?"-his thoughts wandered. "Will she not dissuade Maria from appearing against me before the Judge? I am going, Eustace!-there-there are the terrible agents of divine wrath! I see them waiting for me, and there is no possibility of escape! Chains and a dungeon would be paradise to the place of endless torment; dry bread and water would be sumptuous fare, compared with the burning drought where no drop of moisture will ever cool the parched tongue!" He raised himself a little. "Eustace, dear Eustace, hold me-if only for a few minutes, hold me fast! every moment gained in time, is snatched from an eternity of never-ceasing pain!" His lordship took his extended hand, and the surgeon administered a little weak stimulant that revived him ; "I have not an instant to throw away, Eustace," continued he more calmly; "in this bag you will find my brief history, penned by snatches and at intervals; it was the only consolation that my heart knew; do what you will with it. I have suffered-ay! dreadfully suffered, and now-. The priests have told me, 'Ceux qui péchent contre Dieu seul, doivent être punis dans l'autre monde; mais ceux qui péchent contre les hommes, doivent l'être dans celui-ci :' but I have sinned against both God and man, and as I have been punished in this world, so shall I also be punished in the next. And yet, Eustace, I would fain hear you pray for me-we once mingled our voices together in supplication to the throne of Omnipotence, and though it can never be so again, yet, Eustace, it would calm my last moments to hear you, my much-abused and injured friend, intercede for me." "Man's intercession is but weak," returned his lordship; “but, Maurice, why will you not look to that which has never failed? The expiring thief found mercy and pardon on the cross." "You are mocking me," said Delaney, his words becoming less articulate and distinct. "Am I not a renegade to the faith of my fathers, a traitor to the country of my birth, a base assassin, and a murderer? An age of repentance would not suffice to make atonement for the past; and I-there are but a few minutes between me and eternity. Eustace, is my father living?" "He was, Maurice, when I last heard from England," answered his lordship; " and in good health." "Never let him know my fearful end, my lord," uttered the dying man; "do not bring down his grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. And I would ask "She is the same heartless being as ever," responded his lordship, anticipating the question. "But, Maurice, let me entreat you to forget the affairs of this world" "Will you then pray for me?" implored Delaney. "Speak peace and comfort to my mind-lull me into fancied security, that I may enjoy a few moments' cessation from agony before I enter upon everlasting ages of endless misery." Lord Eustace requested the steward to bring him the Bible, and he commenced reading one of the penitential Psalms. The prisoner lay perfectly still, and apparently tranquil, as the noble chief proceeded; once, and once only, a spasmodic shivering shook his frame, and when the Psalm was ended, a deep silence prevailed for several minutes; the surgeon was the first to break it; he laid his hand upon the face of the captive; it was still warm, though clammy with the dews of death: he shifted his hand to the seat of life, but there was no throb, no pulsation. The spirit had fled. "His days are ended, my lord," said the surgeon mournfully; "his earthly sufferings are over." Lord Eustace shuddered as the thought crossed his mind, that probably the desperate sinner had entered upon a more severe ordeal. He looked upon the corpse of his early playmate and friend, and the lapse of years was forgotten as old associations and old remembrances rose up before him, presenting in the sunshine of boyhood a picture of endearing enjoyment, glowing with those bright tints that colour life but once. Thence the progress to an after period became natural and easy, and the noble captain turned away as a burning flush of indignation, which he could neither suppress nor control, glowed upon his countenance. "Doctor," said his lordship; "I but little thought, when you requested my attendance upon a dying prisoner, to find in that unhappy man a relative, and one who inflicted upon my heart the bitterest pang it ever knew. Yet so it is; the mysterious events▾ of real life far surpass the imaginary narrations of romantic fiction. He was a cruel enemy: but, peace to his soul! for once I loved him as ardently as youth ever loved a highly-prized companion. The retributive hand of justice has overtaken him! There is a Providence that shapes our ends, Rough hew them as we may ! He spoke of his history in that bag. Shall I peruse it, and tear open afresh the wounds which time and determination were healing? Would it not be better to consign them with his body to the deep? And yet there are things and occurrences which I long to learn; they may clear up much that is now involved in obscurity; and shall I shrink from the trial? It must be done, but not nowno! not now! I have more important duties to perform." His lordship released the bag from the drawn-up fingers and paralysed hand of the dead and deposited it in a drawer, which he locked. "Doctor, you must know by your own feelings, what my wishes are, and I am fully sensible that I can rely upon your discretion. Steward, let the body remain for the present," and Lord Eustace hastily ascended to the quarter-deck, whilst the surgeon went forward to visit his patients in the cockpit. The breeze was delightfully refreshing, the sky was beautifully clear, the moon, lessening in its diameter, shed its pale silvery lustre upon the ocean, whilst daybreak, with its first orient tints, was colouring over with fairer lights the intense blue that darkened the eastern horizon. The step of Lord Eustace, as he paced fore-andaft, was at the outset rapid and impatient; his thoughts were absorbed in one all-engrossing subject; he scarcely noticed the officer of marines, as with a respectful salute he announced "All 's-well." Nugent, also, saw that something had ruffled him, and kept aloof, though he wished to report progress. But who has ever gazed upon the lovely face of Nature and not experienced a holy calm within his breast? Such was the case with Lord Eustace Dash: the roseate tints of opening day, blending with the pale chasteness of the moon's crystalline light, attracted his attention; he stood with folded arms alone, near the taffrail, and the sweet influences of the scene, the golden castles and palaces, with their burnished pinnacles and shining roofs, tinged with bright vermilion, on the horizon; the tranquillity of the heavens above, the murmuring music of the waters below, imperceptibly stole him from his reverie of sadness, and a soothing sensation of delight and admiration softened the asperity of his feelings till every pulse was peace. Once more he descended to the cabin, and there in the dubious light might dimly be seen the outline of the corpse, as the white sheet fell in strong tracery over the various parts of the human frame. The noble seaman looked upon it long and ardently; big round drops followed each other down his cheeks, and the unrepressed groan burst from his heart; the victor was sad-the conqueror was overcome. The prisoner had been taken in the Ethalion, and it was with no small surprise that Lord Eustace ascertained from the French captain that, instead of being a humble seaman, his relative was an officer, with the rank of major, in the Republican Army, and much in the confidence of the Chief Consul. Fearing, in his official capacity to be detected as an Englishman, he had, when the frigate found her mistake, hastily assumed the disguise of a foremast-man, and it was only as the colours were hauling down, that he received the fatal wound which shortly afterwards deprived him of existence. Presumed to be no other than he appeared, he had been carried to the fore cock-pit of the Spankaway, where accident conveyed to his knowledge the approximation of his noble relative. Without a moment's hesitation he entreated the surgeon to intercede for an interview, and the result has already been shown. A glorious dawn came streaming through the cabin-windows, and the earliest beams of the rising sun played upon the sheet that covered the cold and lifeless corpse. Lord Eustace opened the drawer which contained the prisoner's bag; he drew it forth, and emptying its contents, found a thick but small book of memorandums, the vellum covers of which were fastened by silver clasps ; he took it with eager haste, and seating himself on the sofa abaft, turned over the leaves with considerable rapidity, occasionally stopping to peruse some particular passage which caught his eye, till mustering a firmer resolution, he commenced at the beginning, and the emotion and agitation he evinced as he proceeded plainly indicated the deep impression every word made upon his mind. "BE QUIET-DO! I'LL CALL MY MOTHER!" [LEST the author of the following should be accused of plagiarism, he thinks it right to state that in the second volume of the Parnasse des Dames, there is a song, the burden of which is, " Tenez vous coi, j'appellerai ma mère. It is, however, too gross for translation, and nothing of it has been preserved in the present lines, except the refrain.] I. As I was sitting in a wood, Under an oak-tree's leafy cover, Musing in pleasant solitude, Who should come by, but John, my lover! II. He saw my anger was sincere, And lovingly began to chide me ; III. He talked so long, and talked so well, I felt more grief than I can tell, When with a kiss he rose to leave me. There is no need to hurry so, I never meant to call my mother!" C. M. THE UPS AND DOWNS OF LIFE. BY TOBY ALLSPY. "PROMOTION," we learn from irrefragable authority, "cometh neither from the East nor from the West, nor yet from the South :" nor yet (since the time when the great Lord North wielded his pen of office in Downing Street,) from the North. Promotion, like a Will-o'-the-Wisp, whisks about hither and thither,—here to-day, and gone to-morrow, no one knows why, no other guesses wherefore. History heaps up her volumes on our shelves, to instruct us why people are born great; but by what magic people have greatness thrust upon them, or achieve greatness, is one of the grand mysteries of life. Bishops have been promoted to lawn sleeves for their dexterity in shuffling the cards at the royal rubber; Welsh Baronets have been translated Irish Peers, to silence their importunity for a key of the royal parks; and English Squires have been belorded and belanded for the judiciously-appropriated hospitalities of their country-seats. We have seen Mirtillo preferred to an under-secretaryship, not that his pen is that of a ready writer, but because Mirtillo hath, upon my life, a very pretty wife!' In short, it is impossible to determine by any vulgar form of augury, which of our sons may rise to be chief justice, which remain a briefless barrister. Hang over the cradles of your progeny as long as you will, and the wooden spoon or silver ladle which the wise women of Brentford pretend to be born in their mouths, is wholly and absolutely undiscoverable. Ned Ormond was my schoolfellow, an ugly dog, an ignorant dog, but a knowing dog: every possible caninization was bestowed upon Ned, except that of being "a stupid hound!" He was up to snuff," but always at the bottom of his class. We were dunces of neither Harrow, Eton, nor Westminster; it was our fate to be flogged up the hill of learning along a less distinguished path. Our short-sighted parents thought more of making Greek verses than English connexions; and at fourteen, we quitted our huge red-brick house of correction at Chiswick, knowing nothing-not even a lord. Unfortunately, I had parents alive and alive to my deficiencies; for having, in family council, voted me a dunce of the first magnitude, they despatched me to Edinburgh for the completion of my education, under the cross-grained vigilance of an old uncle occupying a professor's chair, who for four ensuing years crammed me with knowledge, and crammed me with nought beside. My kinsman spared everything but instruction; and I accordingly grew up as spare as he was sparing; till I was starved into jockey-weight of flesh, and Johnsonian ponderosity of learning. I quitted Edinburgh at two-and-twenty, as promising a young sprig of a pedant as ever emanated from its humanities. Ned Ormond, meanwhile, who was an orphan, bullied his guardian into sending him to Cambridge. The expense of such a step was alarming, for his fortune amounted only to six thousand pounds; but Ned represented, and with connaissance de cause, that there was no getting on in life without a college education. |